ceremony [shan]

Man, the whole village is decked out in towering palm frond tassles and all the statues have new clothes. It's a shining, swinging rippling effect. They made a giant barong (dog/lion thing) out of rice stalks and dried beans and on Monday the whole town rides down to the ocean to do something with the barongs on the shore. We will be there to find out what. Why doesn't matter though, not in a place where everything, every constant ritual action and shape have meaning. I once dated a copy editor who had a book on his shelf called "The Meaning of Meaning." I laughed then and I laugh louder now.